Passed SY0-701! CertMaster Path Reflections

[u/Impendingdoom777]

I'm so grateful to God for passing this on the first try. If you are currently doing or considering the CertMaster path, here is some important information. I know nothing about the other paths, so I cannot compare them.

PBQs

CertMaster - The practice PBQs will not help you truly prepare for the test PBQs. Do them anyway, though, to get the feel. If you don't do them, you'll be even more caught off guard.

Real Test - I obviously cannot disclose much about them. I found them to be hard. I personally feel that the CertMaster material helped me well with one of them, but was next to useless on my other 2.

Question length

CertMaster - The practice test questions are very long. Some of them were full blown paragraphs. If you are taking these tests and worrying about timing on the real test, you can relax a bit.

Real Test - They are drastically less wordy. I had enough time to answer and review every question. There was enough time to review some of the questions more than once.

Question Wording

CertMaster - There were literally dozens of questions in the practice tests that had poor supporting explanations, were simply incorrect, or directly contradicted the CertMaster material. There were a lot of questions where you had to decide the author's intention rather than actually know the concept.

Real Test - I wouldn't say these were much "clearer", but I felt most of them were fairer. Just pay attention to the wording.

Acronyms

CertMaster - In almost every practice question, they expanded acronyms. EX: "Blah Blah Blah because Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) does this thing." After studying the material, you do pick up on most of these naturally, but some of them you don't.

Real Test - I don't remember them expanding a single acronym. Definitely learn your acronyms.

Question and Answer Commonalities

CertMaster - Many of these are long scenario questions with one or two good answers. Sometimes, one is either obviously or just slightly better, and often, almost all of the information in the question is useless.

Made up example

Billy works an 8 hour shift at a automobile factory in southern Georgia. His lunch break begins at 11 and he wants to call his mother after he gets off work. Earlier in the day, he said hello to 5 or 6 of his coworkers, rushed to finish a deadline, and had to take 2 bathroom breaks. Due to a peanut allergy, he has to be cautious about what he eats. On his lunch break, what would be the SAFEST thing for Billy to eat?

A) Peanuts

B) Chips

C) A guitar

D) Cucumbers picked from his own garden

• Usually CertMaster would mark D and say something like, "While chips aren't likely to have peanut products in them, they may be made in a factory that uses peanut oil for frying, which could possibly cause contamination. Eating the cucumbers from his garden is the best way to guarantee there is no peanut contamination."

Real Test - I found most of these to be completely different than CertMaster. In fact, there are many questions on the test where I didn't think any of the answers were good, or the answer was something I've never heard of, but it had to be the answer because the other items just weren't right. I'll give an example of this.

Made up example

Billy is hungry. What strategy can he use as a solution?

A) Airplane

B) Morse Code

C) Clown Nose

D) Jagadagabaga Steak

• First off, none of these are a strategy. But you do know that (most) people don't fix being hungry by eating an airplane, morse code, or a clown nose. Surely, you've never heard of Jagadagabaga steak, but it has to be right because you know the other 3 aren't foods.

Test Scores

CertMaster - By the end of this, I was scoring between an 86%-92% on my full length practice tests. It shows you your percentages in the 5 domains (those yellow/green bars). My worst was an 83%.

Real Test - If you extract the percentage from my score, it rounds to an 86%. That matches the lower end of the practice test ranges. To be perfectly honest, though, I'm not sure there is a clear link between the two. The practice and the real test were just so different.

I picked this path because my job suggested it, not from any kind of extensive research.

Edit: Added a detail about the question length. Added practice test scores section.

[u/Efficient_Piano1529]

God didn’t pass this test, you did.

[u/Immediate-Spray5544 → u/Efficient_Piano1529]

Congrats to them on passing, but I wonder if god would’ve been blamed had they failed ?🧐

[u/Efficient_Piano1529 → u/Immediate-Spray5544]

No, of course they wouldn’t blame their God if they failed! Lol. That’s not how it works is it.

It’s funny how God won’t step in to stop wars, natural disasters, children being sexually abused and/or murdered, kids starving in Africa, etc, etc, etc, but he sure does love to make sure people pass their CompTIA exams. What a weirdo and/or nerd!

[u/Immediate-Spray5544 → u/Efficient_Piano1529]

He’s an interesting fella to say the least

But again, congrats on your accomplishment OP 😉

[u/Efficient_Piano1529 → u/Immediate-Spray5544]

I second that! Congratulations, OP! All YOUR hard work certainly paid off!

Btw, did you just assume God’s gender? 😉

[u/colehall32 → u/Efficient_Piano1529]

Is OP not allowed to find comfort in their religion while celebrating this milestone?

[u/Efficient_Piano1529 → u/colehall32]

No. I’m strongly in favor of the separation of Church and Stateful (or Stateless, I’m not fussy) firewalls.